Safe and Sound
by Liett
Summary: When sweet young Matthew Bonnefoy is suddenly a terminal cancer patient, he doesn't expect anyone to notice or care. But sometimes, love comes from unexpected places. (PruCan, FACE family, human names used.) REVIEWS ARE WELCOME AND APPRECIATED! (To be updated within the coming week.)
1. A Dodgeball Catastrophe

**CHAPTER ONE: A Dodgeball Catastrophe **

"Hurry up, Mattie! We're going to be late!"

Alfred slung his backpack over his shoulder, already walking towards the door. He grabbed a waffle and managed to get half of it into his mouth before Matthew called from upstairs, "Wait for me!"

Hurried footsteps hammered on the floor above as Matthew scampered around, trying to get everything together before the school bus came. Impatient as ever, Alfred rolled his eyes, finishing his waffle in another two bites. He leaned against the wall, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his text messages.

He didn't notice his dad come in until he spoke, which made Alfred jump.

"Are you all ready to go?"

"Dad!" he gasped. "Why don't you give me a heart attack?"

Arthur sighed. "Put the phone away and socialize for once." He sat down at the kitchen table and looked at Alfred with his stern green eyes.

"Well, are you?"

"Am I _what, _Dad?"

"Ready to go."

"Yeah, I've been ready." Alfred said. "Mattie is taking his sweet time, though." He shot an annoyed look at the ceiling.

"Did you remember to feed the dogs?"

"The bus is going to be here in five minutes!"

"You'd better hurry up, then."

"Da-ad!" Alfred whined.

Arthur opened a newspaper.

Sighing dramatically, Alfred sprinted back through the house to the laundry room, where their two German Shepherds stayed while they were away.

The moment he opened the door, he was greeted by an overexcited wall of fur.

"Ack!" he sputtered. "Down, Tony! Get down!"

Tony returned to all fours with a yip of protest. Kuma, the other dog, stood calmly behind Tony, wagging his tail.

After managing to get the food into the bowls with minimal loss of limb, Alfred dashed back out to the kitchen. He grabbed another waffle and glanced at the clock on the stove. 6:43. Two minutes until the bus came.

"_Mattie!_" he shouted.

Footsteps pounded across the second floor and down the stairs. Matthew ran into the kitchen a moment later, still in the process of putting on his backpack. His glasses were askew and his honey blond hair stuck out in all sorts of places. He stopped by the table, putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Alfred could hear him wheezing from where he stood.

"S-sorry..." he panted. "I couldn't find my History book."

"Whatever, man," Alfred said. "We're going to be late."

"Matthieu! Don't forget your coat!" Matthew's dad, Francis, said as he walked into the kitchen. He paused as he reached to hand Matthew his brown jacket.

"Are you wheezing?"

"I'm fine, Papa," Matthew said quietly.

Francis did not look convinced. "Is your asthma acting up?" he asked, concerned. "Perhaps you should take your inhaler-"

"I said I'm fine, Papa." Matthew's voice was soft, but firm.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, looking embarrassed.

"Alright." Francis straightened, still not looking thoroughly convinced.

Alfred glanced outside. Though he couldn't see any vehicles, he heard an approaching engine. The bus was coming.

"Mattie! We gotta go!"

Matthew must have heard the engine too. He stuffed the notebook into his backpack, put on his coat, and gave Francis a hug. Then, he dashed out the door behind Alfred.

They almost didn't make it.

Luckily, the bus driver saw them at the last moment, and hastily halted the bus to wait for them. Alfred dashed up the stairs as soon as the door opened. Matthew followed at a slower pace, murmuring a quick "thank you" to the bus driver before joining Alfred in a seat near the back of the bus, which lurched into motion as soon as he sat down.

Being one of the first stops on the route, they had a long ride ahead of them. Alfred took that opportunity to pull out his neglected algebra homework and scribble down a few answers. Matthew closed his eyes and leaned against the window, trying to catch his breath.

"Matt? You okay?"

He cracked open an eye to see his brother looking worriedly at him.

"Yeah," he murmured. "Just tired."

"But you were panting..."

"I'm fine."

Alfred looked like he wanted to protest, but decided to drop the subject. He went back to scratching down random answers on his homework.

* * *

><p>The bus ride felt longer than ever.<p>

Matthew tried to sleep through it, but his aching chest kept him awake. He tried to keep his breathing even so as not to worry Alfred, but it wasn't easy. Perhaps he should have brought his inhaler after all...

He must have eventually dozed off, because a moment later, Alfred was shaking his shoulder. "Mattie, wake up. We're here."

Opening his eyes once more, Matthew was greeted with the all-too-familiar sight of the looming red brick walls. There was still mist rising eerily off of the barren front yard. No teachers or students were in sight; in fact, there was hardly a living thing in sight, save the yellowed grass that stuck up through cracks in the faded sidewalk. If Matthew was honest with himself, the place looked more like a prison than a school.

The bus doors sluggishly creaked open. Students streamed out, anxious to be free of the stuffy vehicle. However, Matt was in no hurry. He'd rather be stuck in the unbearable yellow monstrosity than within the walls of the abuse centre so laughably called a school. But nonetheless, he picked up his backpack and trudged outside, Alfred in tow.

* * *

><p>The morning classes were always the biggest struggle, mostly because it was a challenge for one to simply keep their eyes open.<p>

As soon as he sat down for his first class, chemistry, Matthew felt himself nodding off. The teacher's voice droned on about dimensional analysis, and orbitals of electron clouds, and quite a bit of other jumbled tomfoolery that had Matt dozing. He only came to his senses when his lab partner elbowed him roughly in the ribs.

"You're going to miss the lab instructions," Lovino hissed. "I'm not doing the whole damn thing by myself."

"Sorry," Matthew whispered back, rubbing his chest where Lovino had prodded him. Had he always been that rough?

* * *

><p>Matt dragged himself through the rest of the morning, escaping with only a few minor scoldings from teachers. Now it was midday. Only a few more classes before he could finally go home.<p>

Next was Phys Ed. At least it was something he couldn't fall asleep in.

Upon arriving at the gymnasium, Matthew entered the locker room, where he changed out of his jeans and into a pair of sweatpants. On his way back out to the gym, he nearly ran smack into Gilbert Beilschmidt.

The tall albino let out a quiet gasp of surprise. Matthew immediately darted around him and out of the locker room, feeling awkward. An average kid like him couldn't just get away with nearly knocking one of the school's most popular jocks onto his backside. He couldn't let Gilbert see his face. If he did, he'd probably end up with a black eye, at the very least.

Back out in the gym, the coach announced that day's activity: dodgeball. Matthew inwardly groaned. He was always the target in dodgeball. His only strategy was to run like crazy and hope he wouldn't be hit.

After splitting the students up into teams, the coach blew the whistle to announce the beginning of the game. Rubber balls went flying at light speed. Matt took off.

As he sprinted back and forth, trying in vain to stay out of the line of fire, he felt his chest begin to ache again. It was worse than usual, each intake of breath stinging like he'd inhaled an icepick. But he forced himself to keep running.

It wasn't until his vision started to grow fuzzy that he halted, putting his hands on his knees to try to catch his breath. His lungs screamed in agony with each inhalation.

The room was spinning... was it supposed to be spinning?

He heard his name somewhere off to the right, but the voice sounded as though it was speaking through several layers of plastic. His frantic heartbeat echoed in his ringing ears. The spinning was becoming laced with black.

A hand was on his shoulder. Someone was calling his name. Alfred? Matthew blinked in confusion. Alfred wasn't in his class...

He felt his face hit something hard and cold... the floor? The voice grew louder and more frantic, but it was drowned out in Matthew's echoing heartbeat as he lost consciousness, and everything faded into nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>(An) Hello, my pretties! Long time, no fanfic.**

**Before anyone sends me angry PMs about lack of other updates, MY OTHER STORIES ARE NOT DEAD (except Leo vs Beastie, which I finished). I know quite a few of you have been looking for updates on Demigods and Shadow Charmers, and I promise, I'm working on chapter two. But I've had quite a bit of writer's block with that one. Besides, I have been rolling this story idea around in my head for over a month, and decided to get it out there. XD**

**Yep, it's going to be sad. Sorry, not much fluff. I'll try to throw some in, though. Don't want the fangirls to kill me. Hehe. **

**Anyway, please review, or Belarus will get youuuuu. **

**(I'll probably update this one pretty regularly.)**

**Hope you enjoyed! **

**Liett**


	2. Monotone

**_Whoa._**

**When I posted this, I expected it to get a little attention. Thirty views, a couple follows and favourites, maybe one review if I was lucky.**

**But I wasn't expecting close to 200 views, along with 23 follows and 13 favourites! **

**I know that to some of you, it doesn't seem like much. But this is more than my other stories received in a year. You guys spoil me.**

**And being the Hetalian that I am, I was naturally quite excited to see that I'm getting views from all around the world! It's been read by people from all of these different countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Norway, Mexico, the Netherlands, China, Brazil, Ireland, India, France, Finland, Chile, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Venezuela, Columbia, and the United Arab Emirates. ****_Holy mother of pasta, guys. That's 21 different countries._**

**_Ahem..._****I apologise, I got a bit excited. XD**

**XxXxXxXxX**

**Replies to reviews:**

**TheLonelyFangirl: Thank you, love! I'm glad you like it! You would not believe how hard I tried to keep it at a good pace. It wasn't easy! (And I'm guessing it won't be getting any easier.) XD Anyway, thanks, miss Not-so-anonymous Fangirl.**

**Guest: Thank you! :) And I know... I feel terrible for doing this to Mattie... **

**SilverWolf1500: Awesome! (Insert Prussia here.) Happy belated birthday. ;) I used to be TeamLeoOmega, then changed it to SilverJem, if that's of any help to you. I remember the forum; it was Alpha and Omega, I believe? Hope that jogs your memory. Thanks for reading!**

**Hetalialover13: My mission is complete. XD**

**TheRedDragonEnforcer4: Thank you very much! I'm working on it as much as possible. (I feel really bad for hurting Mattie, he's so sweet and innocent. But the story must go on, yes? :)**

**_IMPORTANT NOTE:_********_I am going to start using the last names Kirkland and Bonnefoy for Al and Mattie instead of Jones and Williams. Because this is a Human AU, the story wouldn't have made much sense if they didn't use their fathers' respective names. Thanks for understanding! _**

**XxXxXxXxX**

**CHAPTER TWO: Monotone**

"Would Alfred Kirkland please report immediately to the main office?"

Alfred, who was in the middle of a chemistry test, froze when he heard his name over the loudspeaker. He never got called down to the office unless he was in trouble.

He shot his teacher a questioning look; after seeing her nod, he stood and collected his books before exiting the classroom and making his way towards the office. As he walked, he racked his brain trying to think of what he'd done that was disobedient enough to warrant a trip to the office.

Oh, god, had they finally found him out about the potato incident?

As he reached the end of the hall, he entered the office expecting a detention, or something.

But the principal didn't look angry.

Maybe he was misinterpreting her glare, but her expression was one of an emotion that she had never directed at Alfred before.

Concern.

"Alfred," she began (which scared Alfred a little; she always referred to him as "Mr. Kirkland"), "I've been informed that your father is coming to pick you up."

Alfred blinked. "Huh? Why?"

"It is not my place to say. But he should be here soon. Please have a seat."

Confused, Alfred sat near the window, which faced the parking lot. What was going on? His dad never picked him up early from school on such short notice.

Before long, a familiar black car pulled up to the curb. A few seconds later, Alfred's dad stepped out, and approached the school. Upon entering the office, he signed Alfred out without a word, then motioned for Alfred to follow him.

Alfred stood and walked quickly behind him, a pit of worry starting to form in his stomach. Why was his dad acting so... tense?

When he opened the car door, Alfred noticed with a jolt that the ignition was still running. Were they in a hurry?

He got in quickly and buckled up, while Arthur practically leapt into the driver's seat next to him. Five more seconds, and they were leaving the school behind them.

"Dad," Alfred inquired after a pause, "what's going on?"

Arthur grit his teeth before responding:

"Your brother collapsed earlier. He stopped breathing."

Alfred's stomach dropped.

"They had to call an ambulance. He's lucky one of the other students knew CPR."

There was another pause as Alfred let it sink in.

After a moment, he managed to choke out, "I-is Mattie...?"

"From what I've been told, they got him breathing again... but they still had to hospitalize him."

"Is he gonna be okay...?"

Arthur didn't look at Alfred. "I'm sure he will."

They were silent for the rest of the ride.

XxXxXxXxX

It only took them a few minutes to reach the hospital, but it felt like an eternity to Alfred.

As soon as they entered the white-washed building, Arthur approached the front desk. "Excuse me?" he said to the woman at the computer. "Could you tell me where I can find Matthew Bonnefoy's room?"

The woman nodded, and after a few clicks of her mouse, she said, "Room 213. On the second floor, left side of the hallway if you're coming out of the elevator."

"Thank you," said Arthur, voice even more tense than it had been in the car. He led Alfred to the elevator without another word.

The two of them were on the second floor in a matter of moments, where they wasted no time in finding Matthew's room.

Alfred hesitated at the door, but after a moment, he took a cautious step inside.

He was greeted with the soft hum of machines and the beeping of a heart monitor. Francis was there, in an uncomfortable looking chair next to the bed. He looked up as they entered. His face was tear stained. He softly held the hand of the silent figure on the bed.

Alfred's eyes strayed to his unconscious brother. Matthew's face was very pale, his eyes tightly closed, his breaths seeming painful and erratic. He had a clear plastic oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth. His glasses had been removed and placed on the table beside him.

"Mattie..." Alfred whispered, approaching the bed. He pulled up a chair and sat next to Francis, who was looking back down at his sleeping son's face again.

Arthur approached Francis slowly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are they telling you anything about this, Francis? Did they say what caused this?"

The Frenchman shook his head forlornly. "Not a word," he whispered, his voice thick with tears.

Arthur gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "He'll be okay. They managed to revive him, didn't they?"

He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Francis.

"I suppose..." Francis murmured, rubbing his thumb in gentle circles on the back of Matthew's hand.

Before anyone else could speak, a nurse entered, holding a clipboard. "Are you his..." She looked up and saw the two men. "...um... parents?" she finished cautiously.

"Yes," Arthur said, paying no heed to her obvious discomfort.

Francis looked up at her, his eyes filling with tears. "What is wrong with my son?" The distress in his voice was evident.

"At the moment, we have no clear cause. However, we're running some tests, and we should know as soon as we get the results. Until then, it's probably best that he stays here."

Francis gave a slight nod, the tears threatening to spill over.

"Thank you," said Arthur, giving her a nod of his own as he squeezed Francis's shoulder again.

The nurse excused herself from the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

Francis had to excuse himself as well not five minutes later, unable to hold in the tears any longer, unable to see his son looking so ill any longer. Arthur followed him with the intent of comforting him, leaving Alfred alone with his brother.

Alfred sat in silence for a while, listening to the monotone beeping of the heart monitor as it echoed in his eardrums.

Matthew whimpered softly in his sleep.

Leaning forward, Alfred softly brushed Mattie's blonde bangs from his eyes. He glanced at the door, making sure he was alone, then bent over the bed and kissed his twin gently on the forehead.

"Mattie," he whispered, "please be okay."

**XxXxXxXxX**

**(A/n) I'M SORRY, MATTIE! (Because you know he's not okay, if you've bothered to read the summary.)**

**So! Hectic holiday! I didn't get around to updating nearly as soon as I expected to! Sorry! I'll try to update more quickly! Hopefully chapter three will be here before the new year.**

**By the way, that little bit at the end. BROTHERLY. Don't you get any ideas, you rabid fangirls. This is a PruCan. **

**Oh, and if anyone's curious, Al and Mattie are seniors in high school. So is Gil and Lovi and all the other students who've appeared or are going to. XD**

**Anyway, please follow, favourite, and review! You know those always make my day. **

**Until next time, **

**Liett (Totally the hero because I'm American. XD)**


	3. Phone Calls

**(A/n) I'M SERIOUSLY FLOORED.**

**Literally less than a day after posting chapter two, I hit three hundred views. Now I'm over FOUR hundred. You guys are the best! **

**Oh, and adding to the country count: Denmark, Czech Revar, Portugal, Australia, Lithuania, and Malaysia. Twenty-seven!**

**XxXxXxXxX**

**REPLIES TO REVIEWS**

**Lostsong3: THAT WAS MY REACTION TOO! And thanks, that's very sweet of you!**

**Magpiebee: Dawww, I'm sorry! Thanks, love!**

**TheRedDragonEnforcer4: Ha! Thank you! Sorry for the wait, and for making your heart hurt. Happy New Year to you as well, love! **

**pastaaddict: I'm sorry! XD (Your feels ain't seen nothing yet!)**

**TheLonelyFangirl: Gah, you have no idea how much I love your reviews! That prediction? I may or may not be using that in the not-so-distant future... Anyway, thank you! And I'm still making myself feel horribly guilty for doing this to Mattie. Anyway, thanks again, "Yes-actually-currently-in-Hong-Kong-but-really-an-English Fangirl." (These names crack me up.)**

**Kaiyaosha: Thanks? XD I'm pretty sure you're right about that, but things are timed the way they are for the purpose of the story. Remember, he had only collapsed earlier that day, and it takes a little while to perform the necessary tests and receive the results. Also, I know my notes are a bit lengthy, but I really love replying to everyone's reviews, and talking to everyone. Likewise, long chapters are very challenging to conjure up when you've got a schedule as busy as mine. I try, though. ;) Thanks for reviewing! Have a great day, love. **

**XxXxXxXxX**

**_IMPORTANT NOTE:_********_I am using the last names Kirkland and Bonnefoy for Al and Mattie instead of Jones and Williams. Because this is a Human AU, the story wouldn't have made much sense if they didn't use their fathers' respective names. Thanks for understanding! _**

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**XxXxXxXxX**

**CHAPTER THREE: Phone Calls**

The look in those wide, frightened violet eyes would not leave Gilbert's mind.

As he dragged himself through the school day, he found himself unable to focus during his lengthy classes, preoccupied with thoughts of the events that had occurred earlier that day.

Thoughts of the shy, petite blonde boy who had nearly knocked him over in the locker room. The same boy who the violet eyes belonged to. The same boy who had stopped breathing in Gilbert's arms.

Matthew Bonnefoy.

Gilbert didn't know what had driven him to rush over and try to help the small teen. Maybe it was because no one else had even _noticed_ him collapse.

_Why does that make me so... angry?_ Gilbert wondered.

Even so, he'd felt the kid's breathing stop, and had tried to revive him with what little CPR he knew. Luckily, paramedics had shown up soon after. All of the students had been kicked out of the classroom. Gilbert had no idea what had happened to the kid.

_I hope they could save him... I hope- _

"Gil?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts at his friend's voice. "Huh?"

"You okay, Gil? You spaced out there." Antonio's hazel-green eyes were trained on his face with concern.

Gilbert tried for his usual grin. "'Course, Toni. It _is _the awesome me you're talking to, after all!"

Antonio folded his arms, looking incredibly unconvinced. "What happened, Gil?"

"Nothing!" Gilbert was still grinning.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt, you tell me right now or I'm never doing your trig homework for you again."

Finally accepting defeat, Gilbert sighed, letting his grin slip. "You remember hearing sirens earlier today?"

Antonio thought for a moment before nodding. "I think so."

"Well... I was in gym class... and Matthew Bonnefoy was—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Antonio interrupted. "Who?"

Gilbert gave him a look. "Matthew Bonnefoy. He's in our grade."

The brown haired teen looked rather confused. "I don't know a Matthew Bonnefoy."

"He's one of the Kirkland-Bonnefoy twins."

"_Huh?_"

"He's Alfred Kirkland's twin brother!"

Antonio blinked. "Since when does Alfred Kirkland have a twin?"

"He's always had a twin!"

"Oh... never met the guy."

"Obviously," Gilbert sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway..." Antonio urged, clearly growing tired of the argument.

Gilbert retold the whole story to him, his worry more evident with every word he spoke. By the time he was finished, Antonio was wide-eyed.

"Poor kid," he said. "And nobody knows why he just stopped breathing like that?"

"I'm not sure," Gilbert admitted. "I told you, they kicked us all out as soon as the paramedics got there, and you know how schools get about stuff like that."

"Still," Antonio said with a frown, "it seems a little unfair for them to expect you to just continue on with your life and forget the whole incident."

"Ja, I know..." the albino muttered. "I hope the kid's okay."

"I'm sure he is," Antonio said, trying to reassure him. "Now, we should probably finish this worksheet before Mr. Braginsky throws a fit."

"Right," Gilbert sighed. "Can you show me how to do dimensional analysis again?"

XxXxXxXxX

It was growing dark outside when the nurse came in again and told Alfred that visiting hours were ending.

Matthew hadn't woken up. The whole time, Alfred talked to him, telling him how everyone was worried, how he was there for him, how everything was going to be okay. For hours he spoke to his sleeping twin, while trying to ignore the painful noises Matthew made every time he took a breath.

Arthur had been in and out. Alfred didn't know where where his dad went when he wasn't in the small hospital room, but his best guess would be off trying to comfort Francis, who was apparently still quite distraught over the whole thing.

Alfred was alone with Matthew when the nurse reentered.

"Sir? Visiting hours are about over for today."

With an almost invisible nod, Alfred stood. He kissed Matthew on the forehead again. "I'll be back tomorrow," he whispered. "Promise." He straightened, and silently exited the room.

He found his parents in the lobby, standing near the desk. Arthur appeared to be talking to a doctor. When he saw Alfred approaching them, he gave the doctor a nod and thanked him, then turned to meet Alfred.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Alfred muttered. "They're gonna make me, anyway. They said visiting hours are ending."

"Right," was all Arthur responded with. Turning his head, he called quietly, "Francis?"

The Frenchman was standing against a wall. He slowly raised his head upon hearing his name, then walked over to join them.

"Are we leaving?"

Arthur nodded. "They said they'd call us if there's any news on a diagnosis."

"Diagnosis? They think Matthieu is sick?"

"They do have to consider everything," Arthur reminded him. He took Francis's hand. "Come on, Francis, we can come back tomorrow," he murmured gently. "Matthew will be fine until then."

Francis nodded, blinking back more tears as he followed them to the car.

XxXxXxXxX

The ride home was silent, save Francis sniffing every so often. Arthur's knuckles were white on the steering wheel, his green eyes fixed on the road ahead. His expression was unreadable.

Alfred sat quietly in the back seat, staring at the floor. His thoughts were running a mile a minute as he tried to grasp the situation.

Matthew's breathing had stopped. He had almost been clinically _dead_ only a few hours ago.

Now that he was considering it, Alfred realized that his brother's asthma attacks had been particularly nasty lately. Everyone had figured it was just the season; winter had been blowing in strong for months now, and simple respiratory infections, like colds, hit Matthew harder than the others due to his weaker lungs.

_Maybe this is nothing to worry about_, Alfred thought. _Maybe it's just his asthma. We've been dealing with that since Mattie and I were three, we can certainly handle it now..._

But something deep down told Alfred that there was another underlying cause to Matthew's brush with death, and it would not be so simple to deal with.

Even so, he remained hopeful that everything was fine, that things would be taken care of and his brother would be home by the end of the week.

He didn't know how wrong he was.

XxXxXxXxX

Alfred hardly remembered arriving home and getting into bed. It felt like it had been a straight shot from the backseat of the car to the next morning.

It was the telephone ringing that woke him.

After sitting up and stretching, Alfred swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood to go answer the phone when the ringing stopped and he heard his father's heavy English accent. He must have answered.

Alfred walked sluggishly over to his dresser, still fighting drowsiness as he dug through his drawers for something decent to wear.

His task came to an abrupt halt at the sound of shouting.

Curious, he walked quickly into the living room to see that Arthur had yelled something into the phone; his face was noticeably paling as he listened to the voice on the other end.

"Alright," he said shakily after a moment. "Th-thank you." He hung the phone up.

"Dad?" Alfred said. "Who was that?"

Arthur was silent.

Francis came running in a few seconds later. "Did I hear someone shout?" He paused, seeing Arthur's face. "Arthur? What is wrong?"

"That was the doctor on the phone," Arthur said finally, his voice still shaky. "He was calling about Matthew."

"What did he say?" Francis asked, starting to pale himself.

Arthur bit his lip before offering a nearly inaudible response.

"They found advanced stages of cancer in Matthew's lungs."

Everyone in the room froze.

"What...?" Alfred could hardly hear his own voice.

Arthur closed his eyes. "Matthew has lung cancer."

XxXxXxXxX

**(A/n) And there it is. **

**I first want to apologize if timing on the diagnosis is off at all. It was timed that way for the sake of the plot. **

**I know this chapter is out a bit later than planned; updates might not come as quickly as they have been, what with the holiday season ending. This hero's gotta go back to school some time, unfortunately. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and with time permitting, the next installment should be out soon! **

**Yours heroically,**

**Liett**


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